On my first bike ride after Oregon’s mid-January ice and snowstorm, I found Bryant Way closed near the Albany city limit.
In November, sunny days are not routine in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, so you have to grab them when they occur. Which is what I did when I got the chance on Friday afternoon before the fog rolled in.
[youtube video=”ZfPYk8BzR-c”] Nice paving job — and wide too! That was my first impression Wednesday of the newly rebuilt segment of Riverside Drive just outside of Albany. On the bike, the wider road really makes a difference, even before the lane markings are installed.
Linn County’s plan to widen Riverside Drive — a long-awaited safety improvement for drivers and bike commuters — is about to take off.
ODOT completed a million-dollar separated bike path along Highway 34 last fall. It’s supposed to be part of a safer bike route between Albany and Corvallis. Linn County had hoped to start this year on its part of the deal — wider shoulders along part of six-mile-long Riverside Drive — but there’s been a delay.
There are lots of ways to observe the first day of summer, I guess. But I figure one of the best is to make use of the county roads in Oregon’s mid-valley for a leisurely ride on my bike. So that’s what I did on Monday morning.
A break between showers: Get on the bike
Just yesterday, on Christmas Day, I complained that the Oregon weather in December made riding a bike more difficult. And today proved me wrong.
Tags: Albany cycling, bike routes, Bryant drive, Linn county roads, Oregon bike routes, scenic bikeway